Rochester Public Library/Local History & Genealogy Division

Frederick Douglass in Ireland

Presented by Dr. Tim Madigan

February 20, 2016

1-2:30pm

Rundel Auditorium, 3rd floor, Rundel Memorial Building

In 1845 Frederick Douglass was invited by leaders of the worldwide abolitionist movement to come to Ireland, where he spent months visiting such cities as Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Belfast and befriending orator and political leader Daniel O’Connell. Join us as we’re offered a glimpse of Douglass’s time in Ireland, where he came to feel for the first time that he was truly accepted as a human being.

To this day, Douglass remains a powerful figure for reconciliation in modern-day Ireland and Northern Ireland, with plaques commemorating him in Cork and Waterford, murals honoring him in Belfast, and a statue of him in Dublin.

Dr. Madigan and muralist Danny Devenny in Belfast.

Dr. Madigan at the Douglass plaque unveiling in Cork.

Dr. Tim Madigan is the Director of Irish Studies at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, the city where Douglass lived for over 20 years after his return to America from his trip to Ireland.